Facebook has said it would launch a suite of standalone apps in 2014, and the company has once again tried to fulfill that goal with a new app called Facebook Mentions. But you can't use it, unless you're a public figure.

According to Facebook, nearly 800 million people are connected to public figures on Facebook and there are more than a billion interactions between those fans and public figures on Facebook every week. Public figures can include notable people like athletes, politicians, musicians, actors, celebrities, etc.

To enhance the fan-interaction experience for public figures, Facebook has introduced a new Facebook Creative Labs app called Facebook Mentions. It streamlines how public figures communicate with their fans by letting them post updates, host live Q&A sessions, join popular conversations, and view mentions from other public figures and the media.

There's just one problem: You can't use this app for public figures unless you have a verified public figure page on Facebook in the US. Although Facebook plans to add support for other countries and verified profiles in the coming months, you still can't use the app unless you're rich and famous, basically.

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"If you are an admin of a verified Page, you can request access to Mentions directly. If you are a public figure, you can also download the iPhone app to request access," Facebook explained in a blog post published on Thursday.

Facebook Mentions is available through Apple's App Store, starting today. It requires iOS 7.0 or later and is optimised for iPhone 5. If you're a public figure, let us know in the comments what you think about the new app.